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Tuesday, February 15, 2011

SALT AND LEECHES

SALT AND LEECHES

When I was a child, I’d loved to wander. I loved playing at the river, looking for shrimps under the stones and trying to catch them. My cousins and I also loved to stroll and run on grazing land. I still love doing these things but it’s unbecoming of me that I’ll be doing those things at my age. Reminiscing my childhood always makes me feel nostalgic.

I remember there was a time after wandering away; I saw a leech clinging on to my leg. I was so scared but thanks to my grandmother the leech broke its hold on me when she put salt on it. The leech fell to the ground dead. After that, my grandmother reprimanded me for wandering off.

This experience helps me to understand more about Christians being Salt. It’s so amazing how God can give some answers by using ordinary things as illustrations.

LIFE SUCKER

Our sins make us dirty. It’s what makes us so filthy. It’s like leeches that cling to us, sipping our blood until we bleed to death. Indeed our sins lead us to death “for the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23) Sin emits shame, guilt and fear and that’s exactly what Adam and Eve felt after they ate the fruit which God said they should not eat. They covered themselves with fig leaves because they felt humiliated. They were embarrassed by their nakedness. And then they felt fear, fear because they have done an injustice against God, injustice because they took the very one thing which God said “This is mine”. They were greedy. They almost had all the fruit in the garden except for one and they were given the “authority over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Genesis 1:26, 28 ). They have everything they needed but still they craved for more which does not belong to them.

I can only imagine Adam and Eve’s reaction when God came and asked where they are. They were so afraid that they hid among the trees in the garden. They were like children who feared to be punished by their father and because of fear; they have forgotten that they don’t have a father who is cruel but loving. So they cowered and ducked in order to avoid being seen by God. Of course God knows what happened and God knows where they were hiding. He was testing them.

But instead of admitting their sins, they kept on pointing blaming fingers on each other. Their hearts were unrepentant. Putting the blame on the other person means that they were never sorry. When God asked who told them they were naked, Adam blamed Eve for giving him some of the fruit of the forbidden tree and Eve push the blame to the snake who deceived her. What they were actually saying was,

He said: “I’m not guilty! It wasn’t my idea. She let me do it!”

Although Adam never said the following, it could be that deep inside Adam’s heart, he also wants to blame God. “God, if only You didn’t create this woman for me, this wouldn’t happen. It’s Your fault.”

She said: “I’m not guilty either! The snake deceived me.”

So it was Satan’s fault but that’s Satan’s role: to deceive and tell lies and it doesn’t mean that that justifies what happened and made man blameless for by believing what Satan said means that they agreed that God is a liar, that God only wants all the power to Himself and that’s truly an injustice towards God.

AVOIDING AND DEALING LEECHES OF OUR SOUL

I saw this movie “Anacondas,” and I was trembling. I was petrified because I really hate snakes. I don’t have phobia with snakes. It’s just that who wouldn’t be afraid of snakes? Especially that big; it’s just so scary. Ok, that’s just an overstatement and I won’t be talking about snakes anyway. So never mind the preceding sentences.

In the movie “Anacondas”, there was a scene where the group waded in the water and when they came to dry ground they saw a leech in one of the guys and when that guy took off his shirt they saw many big black leeches on his back that made everyone of them panic and check their selves for leeches.

So the moral of the story is: Do not wade on murky water. Just like wading on unfamiliar water where you don’t know or can’t see what lives in the murkiness, we must avoid going to places where Satan is domineering, already waiting and ready to devour our soul like leeches and piranha that feed on blood and flesh. Bars, nightclubs and casinos are just some of the many likely places where sin is looming. Instead, we must spend our time most in a place where we fellowship with the church and we will blessed God. Satan is even present at church tempting us to wander our mind from our worship, how much more is he present in those places where drunkenness, prostitution and vices are ordinary day to day scene.

Let’s not be too literal. The “murky water” here does not only pertain to places but also to the types of movies we watch, the books we read, the songs we listen to and many others. If we’re not familiar with the movie or book, we must ask someone who might have seen or read it to know if the movie/book is wholesome or not or we can surf in the internet and read reviews regarding movie or book we are about to view/read.

It would be easy for us to avoid sin than to fight or deal with it when we are already in it. Leeches can’t harm us when it is not clinging for dear life to us.

Recognize a leech from a twig. This is very important. We can not fight an enemy we don’t know. So recognize them we must. In wars, it is very important to know the tactics, the capabilities and the number of the enemy in order to win. It would be very unwise to go to the battlefield unarmed or outnumbered. In boxing, it is very important during the training to study the opponent. After studying the abilities of Manny Pacquiao’s opponent, Coach Freddie Roach creates a strategy suitable against the opponent’s own strategy. The type of the training not only depends on Manny Pacquiao’s power to knock out his opponent but also on how dangerous the way his opponent fights for the opponent’s ability is the basis of how they train. We must know what sin is and its effect.

Don’t just take a glimpse; stare at it. Looks could be very deceiving and if you are not cautious, it could kill you. So don’t be fooled. Often times we are fooled by the appearance of sin or of how we perceived it. We must learn to distinguish or differentiate a leech from a small black stick or twig of tree. A leech could look like just a twig from afar but look closely and you will see that it is a bloodsucking parasite. In the same way, Satan tells us that it is okay because it is just a small sin, that it won’t hurt us. That’s what he wants us to believe. Don’t listen to him. He is a liar.

We must realize that though how “small” our sin is, it is still dangerous. A continuous sucking of blood by a very small leech can already affect the function and the balance of our body. We must isolate from us the leech before it is able to grow bigger and reproduce. A single “simple” sin could lead to another sin and to another until you are in great entanglement.

Sinning is walking in the darkness where you could not see where you are heading when you feel the cold water touching your ankles and yet you still continue to walk until you are already drowning in the ocean of sin. We must remember that no matter how “small” our sin is, in the eyes of our just God, sin is sin and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

Starve leeches to death.Leeches are small worms that we can’t even notice them not until they grow bigger as they continue to have a fill from drinking our blood. Encarta Encyclopedia says that “A leech can subsist for several months on a single feeding.” Therefore, if we take them from our skin they could not survive that long. Indeed, just like leeches, sin could not continue to hurt us if we detach it from us. So stop feeding your soul to sin!

Apply salt. That’s what I’ve learn from that incident during my childhood. I didn’t understand it before though. What does salt has that makes the leech to break from its hold; from clinging on my skin? Is it the color? (The following sentences are absurd.) Well, salt is white (obviously) and leeches are black (as far I know) so maybe leeches are afraid of its opposite color that whenever the white thing (salt) touch them, they turned pale and fainted. Or it could be the texture. Maybe it hurts the leeches so much whenever the salt with its rocky edges touches them that they had to let go and fall to the ground or maybe it tickles them and so they laughed so hard until they fall. They died laughing.  Never mind what I’ve said, it’s ridiculous. Leeches don’t live on saltwater. They can’t survive when you put them even on just one glass of sea water. Why? Because that’s not their natural habitat.

Leeches do not live on brackish water. They love swampy, moist and muddy places. So putting just a little salt on them knocked them off.

Do not wait for the leeches of your souls to have a chance to grow and grip you even tighter. Once noticed, make a step to separate it from you. You are the host and your sin is the parasite. The leech has everything to gain from you while you have nothing to gain from the leech.

THE SALT OF THE EARTH

When we are in Christ, sin has no longer has any hold on us. Yes, at times, we, even Christians, still commit sins but we are no longer in bondage or slave to sin because Jesus has already set us free. We are free! But this doesn’t mean that we are also free to continue sinning. We must exercise our freedom wisely. You don’t want to be bitten and beaten by your sins, do you? It’s a shame to have scars all over your being just because of sin. I’d rather have scars from a victorious fight against sin than from sin itself.

We Christians are the salt of the earth.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:15 concerning Christians: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again…”

What makes Christian a Christian is Christ. Without or apart from Christ we can no longer be called Christians. What’s the meaning of calling ourselves Christians if we don’t even believe in Christ?

So, when we have Christ in us, it’slike we have the taste of salt running in our blood that whenever leeches tryto sip our blood, they’ll have to let go. For the leeches, it’s like beingelectrocuted or getting burn.

When we Christians sinned, we can besure that the wages of sin, which is death, has no longer any power over us butwe’ll also have to suffer the consequences of our actions. When we apply salt,we can be sure that the leech will break its hold in us and can no longercontinue to drain our blood but that does not keep us from getting hurt from thebite or having scars after that.

I’ve learned the hard way but I’m glad that my God still accepts me and loves me even when I’ve been scarred from my past sins. God’s love endures forever!

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WELCOME

Want to know more about God? Want to draw nearer to Him? God said, "Draw near to me and I will draw near to you." (James 4:8) This blog is my way of drawing near to God through Bible journal (which I post here as a blog), writing poems and through drawing (art). I've posted some of my personal letters to God and the poems I wrote during the most difficult time in my life, hoping that it will give you encouragement and will usher you to draw nearer to God too not only in times of despair but also during happy times.

It is my prayer that every post will lead you to come nearer and know God deeply and have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior.

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ABOUT ME

Born on the 8th of November, she is the youngest in the family. She accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Savior and became a Christian when she was in 1st year college (16 years old). She had dry seasons and even went to the extent of backsliding. She stopped going to church for two years. She was still a baby Christian during that time but the Lord never stop reaching out to her. God used her Bible Study leader, who was also very patient with her and persevered and continued their one-on one study with God's Word. God also used her co-major/classmate who is also a Christian, invited her to spend a night in their boarding house for Cell group/Devotional and to go to church. That comaj fellowship to that same church/campus ministry she used to attend. One Sunday, February 5, 2006, she recommit herself to the Lord after a personal encounter with God. Now, she is a worship leader (glory to God alone) and is persevering to stand firm in the faith to the very end, wanting to know God more and more and fall in love with Him deeply.